Sinch Updates SDK for Apple’s Swift

Last month, Sinch launched its new communications platform. The platform allows mobile developers to add features (e.g., app-to-app calling, messaging, SMS). Just over a month later, Sinch has announced SDK enhancements tailored to Apple’s transition to Swift. To learn more, ProgrammableWeb connected with Sinch’s chief developer evangelist, Christian Jensen.

For starters, Jensen explained the SDK in light of Swift:

As soon as Apple announced Swift language, we’ve worked to ensure the SDK is a great fit for developers as soon as they’re ready to build new Swift apps or rebuild their current apps in Swift. We’ve made several updates to the Sinch SDK so it has maximum compatibility with the current state of Swift.

Given his title, we assumed Jensen is heavily focused on the developer community. Indeed he is, and he explained how the new SDK focuses on developers:

With Sinch, developers don't need to make a big investment in back-end infrastructure to add a top-tier messaging or voice calling service to their mobile app. They only need to add a few lines of code. For developers considering making the switch to Apple's new Swift language, we've also built a sample Swift app developers can download on GitHub to get a better idea of how Sinch interacts with Swift.

While the developer community constitutes the main target audience for Sinch, there are some particular verticals that seem to be a good fit. Jensen suggested social, dating, e-commerce and mobile gaming apps are all good prospects for Sinch. To expand, Jensen provided a sample use case:

Developers could create a shopping feature where users can call the seller of an item without giving away their phone number or getting the seller's number. The ability to make calls without giving out a number could be very useful for dating apps as well. In addition, creators of apps for travel services could let you call hotels from within the app (rather than bouncing you to your phone's main calling app). This would keep users in the app and increase stickiness.

While Sinch does have some revenue goals in mind, its main focus is to build a great product and reputation by listening to the developer community. Sinch is highly focused on developing its partner network in the Bay Area and plans to make some partner announcements in the coming months. To conclude, Jensen left us with some of his thoughts on the future and why Sinch is promptly timed with its recent release:

Voice in apps is really the next big thing. Even WhatsApp is working to add voice calls. The growth of Skype last year was larger than all the carriers combined, with over 50 billion minutes of international traffic added in 2013.

About the author:Eric Carter
Eric the founder of Dartsand and Corporate Counsel for a specialty technology distributor. He is a frequent contributor to technology media outlets and also serves as primary legal counsel for multiple startups in the Real Estate, Virtual Assistant, and Software Development Industries. Follow me on Google+